Erased
by Empj
Summary: In which Hinata Hyūga is raised in Kumokagure as a spy.
1. Epilogue

_**Okay, anybody remember when Kumokagure attempted to kidnap Hinata? Yep! I'm writing a story in which they succeeded, then gave her to a family that had Hyūga ancestry. Enjoy!**_

 _A smooth, striking movement. The footsteps. Almost perfect._

 _'Not good enough,' said the man, 'try again.'_

The kunai flew through the air, spinning and slowly arching downwards. It hit the wood with a sickening crunch. Cracks split in every direction as it dug into the target. Another kunai was shot a moment after. The fourteen year old pursed her lips and threw another. 'Not good enough.'

 _The little girl had never felt so exhausted before in her life. Her limbs were aching and her head spun. 'Please,' the little girl pleaded, 'Can't we-'_

 _'No.' Said the man, "Try again."_

She spun and dodged and avoided every attack. Each movement was done with inexplicable grace, as she gracefully crept toward her opponent, weaving and ducking and moving until her katana was against her enemy's throat. "Again?"

 _She tripped over her own feet and almost fell upon her cousin, who stared at her with blank eyes and no emotion. She looked up sheepishly, before scrambling to her feet._

She tripped her enemy and once more put the katana against his throat. "Once more?'

 _"Her stance was wrong," he said_.

She went under his legs and pulled him down by his own hair.

" _Fix that." He ordered._

Caught him in a genjutsu.

 _'Train with me.' He demanded, in the early hours of the morning._

Produced three clones and had them attack, one by one, while the others hid in the shadows.

 _'You are weak.'_

Her katana against his throat.

 _Weak._

Her dagger pressed to his cheek.

 _Weak._

Her palm, pulsing with chakra, pressed against an artery.

 _Weak._

 _Worthless._

X

When Hinata was younger, she asked her father what the dreams meant.

He was a kind man, with short scruffy hair and pale white eyes that, despite the Hyūga heritage, did not possess the Byakūgan.

But Hinata's eyes did.

'Maybe memories from a previous, life, perhaps?' He had remarked, swinging her up onto his shoulders.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head against his back. She liked feeling the movement in his chest when he spoke. She tripped the cloth of his shirt. "Now let's go play with Yosōchi."

Yosōchi was a cousin whose mother had died when he was ten. He moved in an apartment next to Hinata and her father's a few years ago.

Hinata, by no means, considered him her brother. He was related, through and through, but she didn't feel like that made him her brother. The relationship they had was somewhat between sibling and friend. Basically, Hinata didn't see him as a sibling,

However, the little boy with the eyes like hers that she sometimes saw at the border was a different story.

X

She was a prodigy.

She graduated from the academy a year after her cousin Yosōchi did. He had been twelve. She had been seven.

She was assigned an instructor who was to inform her about her role.

Hinata knew who she was.

She was nobody.

That's what being a spy meant. When she was old enough, she would be sent away to other villages, each time with different identities and different missions.

That was the first thing she was taught as a ninja.

You are nothing.

You will be nothing.

You have no name.

You don't matter.

You want to be someone who doesn't matter, who people won't pay attention to or a give a second glance. You have to be worthless.

 _"Worthless." The elders sneer at the trembling child._

X

 _Yosōchi sticks his tongue out at her as she practices with her katana. It is her favorite, not too long but not a dagger. About as long as her forearm. She fights with the ANBU - spies in training - that have all dubbed their masks. She out here own - she gets one, since she is destined to be ANBU. She wonders how her cousin knows it is her._

She slips on her mask and, just like that, seems to fade. People pay the ANBU no mind. They are a dark presence in an already dark world. These ninja have their own jobs to do.

 _Her first kill haunts her for weeks. The mission was to assassinate a man carrying a secret document. She had just joined the ANBU to learn how to become a sufficient spy. She had been fourteen._

 _(The deaths of her family members, excluding Yosōchi, had been coming back in her dreams)._

 _She remembers the blood on her hands and the blood covering her dagger. Her mask had specks of the horrifying liquid flecked upon it, and when she raised her bloody hand to wipe off her mask, she ends up smearing blood over it._

 _It takes Sai (her ANBU captain) hours to calm her when he finds her crying hysterically next to the assassinated man._

The nineteen-year-old creeps through the crowd of people, nearing her target. The man is tall, with brown hair and green eyes, and is talking to a merchant. He laughs and turns to walk away.

He never gets the chance.

Quick as lightning, she darts up. Her katana slides through his flesh like a key into its lock. It is a weird feeling, to kill. But the same every time. She got used to it, long ago. She hadn't freaked out about a death since she was thirteen. Hinata sees the life in his eyes fade as he crumples on her sword. She extracts her weapon and the man falls, slowly, but surely.

The other ANBU are there to catch him when he does. Their gloved hands are perfectly aligned, as not to touch his injuries. They nod to her, acknowledging her kill. She stares back, then turns to leave.

Nobody eyes Hinata with accusatory expressions as she walks back through the crowd. It is curiosity, and, on the faces of children or mothers, horror. They can't understand the ninja world.

 _She cries out as the kunai hits her Father in the head with a sickening crunch._

 _She can't do anything. Can't move a muscle._

 _She really is worthless._

 _ **Okay so basically, Hinata is a ANBU. Her purpose is a spy.**_

 _ **In this story, Neji is her step-brother. Will be explained, etc. etc.**_

 _ **As for her cousin, dang, I'm proud of me. That was my first OC ever.**_

 _ **And I hate making OC's. But I actually like him. He's cute. But seriously, I don't like OC's. I normally would just use another character, but I couldn't think of who to use. Not Kiba or Shino or Naruto or Neji or Hanabi or anybody, because I already have roles for them to play.**_

 _ **Also, excuse the x instead of a line break. My computer won't let me do line breaks so I just do a x instead.**_


	2. Of Missions and Yosochi

_Once, there was a boy._

 _He may have been born first, but he was second in many ways to his younger relative._

 _Although he was of Hyuga heritage, he did not possess the Byakūgan._

 _However, his cousin_ _did._

 _'Look, Sensei!' When he was seven, he could make lightning dance around his palms and flicker on his fingertips. But his cousin did it at four, and with more lightning, and more control._

 _'Watch this!' At the humane age of six, he could use chakra to jump very high into the air, do a backflip, and hit twenty targets with kunai without looking._

 _But his cousin went and did it at five, and did a better flip, and hit twice as many targets._

 _He tried for years to gain the Byakūgan. Every day he would practice three times - before breakfast, after lunch, before dinner. His cousin, however, at the age of six, gained the Byakūgan on her first try._

 _Kumokagure adored her. They dubbed her the Byakūgan Hime. She was to 'lead them to a shining new future with those blessed eyes'._

 _The boy grew bitter of her abilities. He turned his back, and failed to see the weight of responsibility on her tiny, fragile shoulders. Responsibility that turned into fear. That turned into pain._

 _He ignored his cousin, and sought a new path._

 _'What a spoiled child.' The crowds would whisper as he ran through the streets, boasting loudly about how he was to be the youngest Raikage ever._

 _The boy looked up to the sky and swore on the stars that he would surpass his cousin._

 _So be it._

X

Hinata picks up her mission and stares at Raikage-Sama.

"Okay..." She said dubiously, raising an eyebrow at Ai. "And you're sure that you want to pair me with Yosōchi?" She asked, frowning at the thought of a mission with her cousin. While he wasn't hyper or mean or stupid or anything of the sort, he was just simply annoying.

The Raikage glared at the Nisezoku (fun fact- Nise means false and Zoku is part of the word Hozoku which means family, Which means hinatas surname is false family) "Are you questioning me?' He said, frowning. The Raikage was famous for his anger, and Hinata could feel a temper-tantrum about to be activated.

'Of course not.' She said hastily, biting her lip. She bowed reluctantly and rushed out of the room.

It takes her a short time to find her cousin's apartment - 716. Without bothering to knock, she pushes open the door and steps inside.

'Disgusting,' she murmurs, staring in horror at her cousin's living room, and leans down to pick up a shirt, still stained with blood and a kunai tear in it, 'Oh Yosō. Honestly.'

He's so crude. No wonder he doesn't have a lady friend. She shakes her head and walks down the small hallway, looking for him. Hinata hears a soft noise, so she pushes open his bedroom door, looking for Yosōchi.

And he's... Currently engaged with a girl. So much for the no-lady-friend comment earlier. Thankfully, the blankets covered the... Would be exposed body parts.

'Oh. Gross. Yosōchi. That's disgusting.'

Yosō jolts in surprise, and whips around to see who it is. He probably gets a good look of his cousin (whom he hasn't seen in a year, by the way) He almost falls out of his bed in his haste and glares at her. 'What the hell are you doing here?'

'Long story... Just... Oh, kami, please cover your body.' Her relative looks down and his face twists up in a grimace. She shudders, turns around swiftly and walks out the door, leaning down to sit against the wall.

Oh, yuck. She shakes her head as if this will rid her of that awful image. She hears soft murmurs and other noises coming from the room.

Yosōchi appeared a few moments later, still tightening his belt buckle. She looked up at him and made a face. He didn't look much different. He still had Byakugan look-alike eyes, mousy-brown hair that flopped and covered these eyes, and his well built figure, not too slender but not too muscular.

'Oh kami...' She gagged, 'I thought I raised you better than that.

Yosōchi punched her on the shoulder, 'Two things,' he said, 'first of all, you didn't raise me, I'm twenty five. You're like nineteen. And we didn't even live in the same house. And I didn't even live near you until I was, like, ten. And, secondly, what the hell do you want?'

She rubbed her shoulder indignantly. 'Rude.' She muttered, shooting her cousin a well disguised glare. 'The Raikage had sent us on a mission.'

His eyebrows shot up. 'Us?' He asked, disbelief coherent in his voice. 'The two of us? Alone?'

'Yes.' She clarified. 'The two of us. On a mission. Alone.'

There was a comfortable silence. Hinata could hear Yosōchi's finger nails tapping the metal of his belt buckle. He licked his lips and glanced down at his feet.

Then suddenly, he locked his jaw and yelled, 'That's a stupid-ass idea!'

Hinata raised her eyebrows, amused. 'Come again?'

'That's just... That's... Wha-...'

'A stupid-ass idea?' She repeated, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. 'You're normally not this crude.'

He gave her a disgusted look, one that said, I _'m so disappointed in you_. 'What's the mission anyway?'

'Multiple things. I'll explain on the way.' She fiddled with her naginata hanging from her nin-tools. The sharp edge of the blade pricked her palm, and blood began to drip slowly from her hand. Unconsciously, she began wrapping her hands in the drapes of her shirt.

Her cousin took a deep breath in. 'All right, then!' He leaned forward and offered his hand. She rolled her eyes and grasped it, pulling herself up. 'Lets get going.' He declared, 'but first I need to make an announcement to a special friend.' He wiggled his eyebrows at Hinata and marched into his room.

She stood there with one eyebrow raised. One minute passed. She tapped the heel of her foot against the floor. By then two minutes had passed. Feeling rather apprehensive, she opened the door, 'Yosō... We don't have time- Oh, Yosōchi, gross!'

X

She sat on her bed, checking her nin-bag.

'Kunai...' She murmured, 'check. Naginata... Katana... Shuriken... ANBU mask...' Hinata was feeling rather nervous about the mission she and her cousin had been sent on. Things never went well when she was just with Yosōchi. She hadn't been on a mission with her cousin in ten years. The last one... Had been a horrible blow to Kumokagure.

She _breathed in, her breath ragged. Tears streamed down her face as she clutched the dead body. She could hear the other people screaming and felt Yosochi's warm figure, sticky with blood, at her side. A horrible taste - like metal and rust - built up in her mouth. She spit it out and saw her_ _ **own**_ _blood. The ground seemed to spin in front of her eyes-_

She shook her head. Now was not the time to revisit that memory.

Standing up, Hinata swung her bag on her shoulder and headed out the door. She wasn't surprised to see Yosōchi standing there.

'Whassup?' He said, winking.

'You're an idiot.' She shoved him out of the way and headed down the hall.

X

She pulled on her mask - a black one that covered everything except for her mouth and put her hair up in the ponytail. She was already wearing her black leggings and brown overcoat. The disguise was to blend in with the common people in Suna.

She turned to look at her cousin and was greeted with a raising of his palm. _Yo_.

All of her life, she had learned to read her cousin's body language. It was very plain and simple.

She shook her head in exasperation, and whapped her brother upside the head. He yelped and cradled his skull, 'Owwwwww!' He whined, pouting. 'You're a freaking jerk!'

'Shut up.' She shoved him with the sole of her boot, and he collapsed, letting out fake groans of pain.

'She's hurting me!' He screamed in an imitation of panic. 'She's a monster! On Kami it hurts! Please, help!'

Karui and Omoi walked in. They both slowed to a stop and watched with confused and afflicted expressions as Hinata continued to kick her cousin (more lightly than it looked) as he let out mock screams of pain.

There was a long pause as both Hinata and Yosōchi looked up with identical expressions of sheepish embarrassment. Yosō jumped to his feet and saluted. 'Uh... Ready for orders... Sirs - I mean, uh, lady and gentleman...'

Hinata smiled worriedly. The more he did this, the more likely that he was going to get them in trouble. Technically, they hadn't done anything wrong, but when panicked, Yosōchi said ridiculous things.

She remembered once, when she was nine, and he fifteen. They had been caught stealing treats from the pantry. Her father gave them a lecture, and Yosōchi suddenly yelped, 'We only did it 'cause we saw a -uh - dead body!' A lot of paper work had been filed and people freaking out had ensured. Eventually, Yosōchi got a lecture on not letting panic run his mouth.

Brought back to earth by Omoi and Karui staring at her, she punched her cousim on the shoulder, 'Do me a favor and shut up.' She whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

His facial expression took one of a wounded animal. Yosōchi put his head in his hands and sobbed. Omoi's eyes widened, "Stop crying, Yosōchi! What if you don't stop crying and your tears form a river and the river drowns the whole world and the whole world smells like salty tears and a bitter end?'

Yosōchi lifted up his head and stared at Omoi with an expression of disbelief. Hinata giggled, shook her head, and shrugged at Karui. Karui smiled back. Considering that Hinata's face was covered, this was a very acceptable reaction on Karui's part.

Karui took a deep breath in. 'So! Uhhh... Here's how the mission will work. You and Yosōchi will travel to Suna for some infiltration on the Fourth Kazekage. You will meet up with Team Samui there.

"Then, uh, we head down to Konoha. Since Hinata has the Byakūgan and Yosōchi pretty much looks like a Hyuga- he's got the eyes, just not the Byakūgan, right? - anyway, you two will pretend to be Branch Hyuga. After we gain information, we come back home. Report all to the Raikage. And stuff... So yeah! That's it.'

Hinata shook her head and glanced at Yosōchi. He put his hands at his sides like, _What'cha gonna do 'about it?_

She sighed, turned to Karui, and said, 'All right. When do we leave.'

'Right now.'

'Okay.'

'Wait, _what_?!'

 ** _Ok, couple of things._**

 ** _-Yes, yes, I know, flashbacks flashbacks. Blah blah blah._**

 ** _-I hope you're getting a good idea of what Yosochi's like. The more I write him the more I realize that I made him a lot like my middle brother. (I've got three little bros - I dub them the older one, the middle one and the baby to keep things simple). He even looks like my bro. Middle has hazel green eyes and dirty blonde hair that's short._**

 ** _-and yes. Beginining is Yosochi's point of view. Yes, that is on purpose. I will continue that throughout the story. Hinata's flashbacks will happen in the chapter itself, whereas Yosōchi's will happen as epilogues._**

 ** _-I actually rather enjoyed writing from Yosochi's point of view. He is honestly my first OC ever, and will continue to be the only one along with their dad throughout the story. For teammates or Senseis or friends I will use noted Kumokagure characters from the manga/anime._**

 ** _-I kind of put Yosōchi in canon Hinata's position on purpose. Like, not being as naturally talented as the younger._**

 ** _-Hinata's personality is different in this story. This is because she was raised differently. Got it? I think that the Hyuga environment just kinda broke her._**

 ** _thats it for now._**

 ** _please review! Coffee and Reviews are my inspiration! (Along with the new Naruto episodes on Thursdays!)_**

-Empj.


	3. The Desert and the Plans

**_SkippingThrough: AWWWWWWWWWWW THANKS! That was so nice!_** JJJJ

 ** _Enbi: Erhm… yeah I probably should fix that. I was actually trying to make it seem confusing (yeah, yeah, I'm so mean, muah ha ha). I'll try not to make it seem too weird though, as I'm trying to confusing and interest people at the same time. Tell me if I succeed or just totally screw up._**

 _Once, there was a boy._

 _The scent of hazelnuts and forests drifted off the woman that he clung to. The boy reached for the pen she held, his slender fingers flexing and grasping at the material. She chuckled and moved it away, her hand tracing movements that the pen followed._

 _The boy stared at the words she wrote, his lips moving. He only got a few words, such as,_ "Father." _And_ "Boy." _And some other words, big ones, such as_ _,_ "di-diffic-cult," _his lips sounded out. And_ _,_ "Byu0-bua-bueat-…"

 _The boy gave up and leaned back into his mother's lap, pressing his face into her shoulder._

 _The world slowly slipped away as he fell into a drowsiness, his hands slipping off her shoulder and to his sides, grasping at air._

One day _¸ he thought sleepily,_ one day I'll read that letter.

 _So be it._

X

The wind whipped harshly, throwing pellets of sand against their cloaks and the bits of exposed skin. It howled and barked like an angry animal that hadn't gotten its way, and gave them red rashes on their ankles and wrists.

"Why does my life have to be ruined?" Yosochi muttered ungracefully, scratching at his wrist. "I hate the world. I think the universe hates me back."

"Yeah, well, you must be fun to play with." His companion muttered, kicking the sand at her feet. The particles were picked up in the wind and thrown back in her face.

"Uyucgh!" She made a strangled sound of disgust. "I think the universe must hate me too."

"No, it hates me." Her partner corrected with a noise of disgust. "You just got the luck of being _partnered_ with me."

She laughed desolately, "I think _partnered_ doesn't work. Probably the 'luck' of being related to you instead."

"Being related to me is a gift. You should be proud of yourself."

"I didn't make us cousins." Hinata sighed. She leaned down and picked up a rock that was laying at her feet. "If I were in control of those kind of things you would be living in Kiri."

"I can tell that you appreciate me. If we weren't cousins we would totally be dating."

"Oh, Kami, Yosochi. That's disgusting."

"You know you love me." He winked roguishly at her.

"Yeah. _Reluctantly_." Hinata muttered. She fingered the jagged edges on the rock that she was holding, and then chucked it. It hadn't gone ten feet when it disappeared from sight, fading into the swirls of sand and dust.  
She looked skyward with a sigh. "It's getting late." She murmured softly, pondering their choices. "We should set up camp."

"Hey! How can you tell if it's late! I can't even _see_ the sky!"

"You idiot…" Hinata groaned. "The amount of light differs no matter how sandy it will be, and the temperature drops. It will grow dark. You don't have to _see the sky_ to tell that it's night. Honestly."

"Oh. Sorry."

She shook her head. "We should be looking for a crevice or something. We need to look for shelter."

"Like a cave?"

"Yeah, like a cave." She muttered, fishing in her bag for a map. "But I don't know if there are any around here."

"Uh, Hinata?" Yosochi said, his voice a mixture of confusion and wariness.

"What?" She snapped, looking up. "Oh."

A few feet in front of them was a burrow, most likely something made by a summoning animal such as an Anayue (Badger-Rabbit).

"Yosochi, that's not a cave…" She groaned, shaking her head at his stupidity.

"Oh. Sorr-"

"But it will do." She interrupted, grinning.

" _You could have at least let me apologize_!"

X

Hinata leant against the wall of the smooth, hollow hole that she and Yosochi had decided to set camp in. The light of the fire that he had hastily made flickered against his face as he slept; his soft breaths echoing around her.

She sighed, her breath creating a wispy cloud in the air surrounding the two of them. It was very cold and the sandstorm had stopped early into the night, before Yoso had fallen asleep.

Hinata picked up her katana and began to play with the handle, delineating the designs that she had carved herself.

 _She is sitting on the rock, holding a kunai in her hand. She carefully begins to etch a drawing on the smooth wood with the tip of the weapon she is holding. It takes her hours. When she is done, the swirling coruscent eyes from her nightmares stare up at her from a world mirrored by the dagger's reflection._

The designs on the blade had come from very distant memories of being surrounded by trees. Hinata has always assumed that this was simply from a very early route.

A route was something her father would take her out on – he was the village's patroller, and he would simply walk the edges of the border, sometimes delivering packages to somebody or picking up something. Sometimes Hinata would come with him and play in the fields or the forest nearby…

Always forests. Certainly never _deserts_ to play in.

Hinata sighed and looked up at the dusty dirt ceiling. She didn't understand why they had to go to Suna if the mission had nothing to do with the Yondaime Kazekage, or his children, or the village at all.

The blade was flung through the air and sunk into the ceiling with a crack. Splinters from the rotten soil and sand rained down upon her and stung her eyes.

She winced in pain and discomfort; reaching up to rub her eyes, she hears the wind whistle by the campsite, buffeting the entrance with gusts of harsh ice.

 _Ice_ …

The temperature in deserts drop because the air is so dry that the heat escapes rapidly when night falls. Sometimes it went down to -5 Celsius. It wasn't surprising that any water had been solidified. But where had the water come from?

A river was the biggest possibility; perhaps Suna had one as support in case of water shortage. Finding this water shortage was a necessity in many forms;

-water supply

-negotiation with Suna

-rendezvous point

To ponder on this was one of Hinata's many traits. Worrying and willowing away made the Nisazuku famous. Human nature itself was also a defining trait in Anbu.

To be Anbu was not to be heartless.

It was to have self-control.

Duty to the mission itself.

If Hinata was told to kill a comrade for a mission, she would not have begged and pleaded as one with a weak mind would have. She would have simply picked up her naginata and done the job, however much her weak heart would protest at this man-slaughter.

She would not have felt bad.

She would not have felt mercy.

If she felt the tiniest shred of regret, it would be that the comrade had failed the village and would have to pay the ultimate price.

To kill a comrade was an impossible act to most – as if to touch the stars or jump over the sun.

The very same sun was beginning to rise. Blearily, Hinata shook herself to rid the mind of these thoughts that belittled her and leaned over and tapped Yosochi on the shoulder.

"Time to wake up, Yoso." She said wearily. "We have to go."

 ** _I NEED YOUR HELP GUYS!_**

 ** _IM IN A SITUATION!_**

 ** _I CANT DECIDE WHAT PAIRING TO DO!_**

 ** _IM STUCK BETWEEN GAAHINA AND NARUHINA_**

 ** _PLEEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSSE HEEEEELLLLLPPPPP!_**

 ** _But, no, seriously, not kidding. I can't decide. See I like NaruHina better but I feel like I would ruin it if I write it cause Kishi made that couple amazing and I feel like I would mess up horribly. Plus I like writing GaaHina a lot. I seriously think that if Kishi had introduced those two in canons they'd be like good friends. Not BFFS cause Shino and Kiba have that role in canon already so yeah.'_**

 ** _Sorry about not updating in forever. Real life is hard to ignore. It's like my dog. Big, annoying, and right in your face 24/7. But I am not kidding. Summer is the busiest time of year for me! I know that's shocking, but hear me out._**

 ** _If you've read my bio, you know ive got a bi_** _g_ _ **fam. Yeah, well, that fam likes me to babysit. A lot.**_

 **** ** _I also sometimes teach swim lessons to these cousins._**

 **** ** _Cause guess what. I do a swim team! That doesn't mean 'oh I know how to swim' that means 'I know how to dive off a swim block with perfect form, do a good underwater pull, break out of the water arms first and start doing Calstroke, and then do a flipturn, and go the other way, and then repeat'_**

 **** ** _Speaking of swim, my races for a swim meet coming up… I have to do a stroke called Butterfly. I… SUCK at this stroke. Go search it up. Like, 'Butterfly swim stroke' or something. Im sooooooo bad at it._**

 ** _Anyways, summer is busy. I also babysit for some neighbors and I have four cousins coming down later in August. Fourth of July is big for my family, all the cousins go down to the canal vacation house and chill – just kidding we don't chill, we go innertubing and throw mud at eachother and make smores that we mash in eachothers faces and set off fireworks (big ones since its in the country) and catch jellyfish and play games like king of the dock and backstabber. Both are awesome games. Maybe I'll_** **** ** _throw those in here._**

 ** _Anyways, I have to sleep. Its like 5:00 am. Normally I only go till 2:00. Whoops!_**

 ** _Ciao_**

 ** _Empj_**


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